legacy of surprises, sure things gone sideways and the failure of big names to launch glittering new projects. credence to groupthink. There were stunners all around last week, with big-name projects and "buzz" pilots abandoned.
In the feverish buildup to last week's schedule making, so much went into what was hot or not, and nothing was said about what happens the day after the decisions are made. Now, it should be noted that in such an indecisive industry, allowances must be made for changed minds. There are certainly some deals in place where shows that weren't picked up are being held for a limited time in, well, limbo, sure that it not only makes sense to the network's needs, but is actually competitive based on what shows rivals chose.
reprieve in the following weeks is minimal. And yet, that's the first place we start when looking back at what happened in New York last week. CBS was supposedly hot on "Babylon Fields," a sure thing.
It wasn't. CBS did, however, pick up a series about vampires, so zombies, and somebody flipped a coin. "Babylon Fields" is not quite dead yet (no pun intended), however.
If there's one series that got passed on that may yet see the light of day (all right, that was intentional), it's this one. Another pilot that wasn't picked up, "Mr. Mrs.
Smith" -- based on the and being shopped to various networks, but the odds of it finding a home are someone's schedule after it's been set, odds are much better for a series to get a second shot if it were rejected in-house, not by another network). of projects that were, at least initially, considered hot properties. Both were Brit imports.
The first, "Football Wives," had a major director (Bryan Singer) behind it and a solid cast that included Ving Rhames and Lucy Lawless. The pilot, an outrageous soap that was supposed to fit in well at ABC, apparently didn't live up to its potential. "The Thick of It," the second Brit import, was a political satire guided by "Arrested Development" creator Mitch Hurwitz.
The show, by Christopher Guest, starred Oliver Platt and Michael McKean. Its rejection qualified as real news. ABC was guiding, "Life on Mars," which was being developed for an American audience by David E.
Kelley. The project had already been pushed back as a midseason consideration, but ABC made no mention of it last week. It's conceivable that Kelley and ABC are still dealing.
high-profile creators can induce a network to say yes, look no further than NBC. It turned down a pilot called "M.O.
N.Y." -- about a man who becomes mayor of New York -- that was developed by Barry Levinson, Spike Lee and Tom Fontana.
NBC also didn't pick up the "Fort Pit" pilot about New York City cops that was created by Peter Tolan and Denis Leary, the duo behind FX's acclaimed CBS, which has done well lately developing sitcoms, passed on comedy Prinze Jr., Jeffrey Tambor and Jason Biggs. So why are so many guesses about what will make it to the schedule wrong?
A lot of reasons. Sometimes a show is deemed "hot" because it has a great cast or is developed by, say, Spike Lee. Once a network sees the actual show, it may not be so enthused.
Or, in the fickle nature of the business (as exemplified by NBC passing on "M.O.N.
Y." and "Fort Pit"), the direction of the network shifts (less gritty, more sci-fi centric). Some of the "buzz" in the business is faux and series get picked up, when, in reality, the networks were never that into either one.
terrible fall schedule, he or she cuts their expected occupancy length in the get swayed by audience testing, one of the least reliable tools you can imagined it going anywhere. In short, who knows? Historically, the upfronts have confirmed the notion that, indeed, nobody knows.
There are tales of producers being flown out to New York to parade in that the network has, all of a sudden, changed its mind. This flip-flopping also works in reverse, when ongoing series are left off the schedule and presumed (and reported) canceled, only to be revived a day before (or at) the upfronts because someone's mind changed or someone relented on a money issue. In the end, reasons why don't matter.
A lot of work, time and jobs are lost. The nature of the beast is that most pilots simply don't make it. But everybody has their hopes up.
Not that they should. In this business, even E-mail Tim Goodman at . You can read his blog, the Bastard Machine, at .
He can be heard every Monday at 8:30 a.m. on the KFOG "Morning Show," 104.
5 FM.
News RSS